Strange Ambitions
by OtakingGTJ
Summary: After that whole Sasuke ordeal, things have kind of calmed down...for about a week. Now things are starting to get weird. But what happens when, among other things, Tenten decides SHE wants to be the main character?
1. To Be a Hero

Strange Ambitions

A Naruto fanfiction by Otaking GTJ

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi-sama, not me. If I owned it, it would be called "The Shikamaru and Neji Prime-Time Hour of FUN! Guest-starring Chouji, and Lee with the weather" So there.

AN: I can't believe I'm writing fanfiction again... You Naruto fans may not know me, as I was previously a Zelda author, under the name "Mousse 1/2". I wrote two fics, and never finished them. And I probably never will. That was 2 years ago, and I still have no desire to continue those fics. But this one, I will try my hardest to write in it's entirety. This fic's idea was inspired by the ever-so-awesome Link and Luigi, from whom I formulated ideas on this fic while chatting online late one night... Plus, her fanfic "The Naruto Primer" is the best Naruto fanfic EVER. Go read it. But after you read mine. Btw, this fic was meant to be written in Script format, but I see cancelled them for no reason. Whatever, might as well try something new..

Strange Ambitions

Chapter 1: To be a Hero

It was after the whole ordeal with Sasuke and his whole "kill-Naruto-and-awaken-the-Mangekyou-Sharingan" thing. That was over now. Both of them lay in the hospital, resting after that little scuffle. But we are not looking at the hospital for them right now. No, there are more important things afoot. Today was the day on which Hyuuga Neji was to be released, after being rescued by Shizune and having all his wounds healed from that nasty fight with Kidoumaru, who died since he wasn't as lucky. But that was his destiny to die, as it was Neji's destiny to survive and go on and prove that the Branch House is so awesome, and can overcome the evil Main House, and prove once and for all that...oh, sorry, got a little carried away there..right. Anyway, today he would be released, and his teacher, the ever-hyper Gai-Sensei, was there to see him off and get back to ninja-ing with his team-mates. Accompanying was his clo-er, student, Rock Lee, flashing the same bowl-cut, super-huge eyebrows, and stylish green bodystuit as his teacher. Well, except Gai wore a vest, but that's just because he's a Jounin. Duh. As they walked up to the desk, they were greeted by the receptionist.

"Hello? May I help you?", said the receptionist, whose name will not be given because nobody really cares, though people will still look her up in one of those handy Naruto guidebooks, then put up as much info about her as possible on their fancy Naruto info sites....

Gai replied, "Yes! We are here to pick up Hyuuga Neji, so that we may continue in our SUPER-COOL NINJA MISSIONS!" He then bared his super-shiney, brushed-7 and a half-times-a-day, teeth, which gave their usual Gai Twinkle. "We would like to see him as soon as possible so we can start! Right, Lee?"

"Hai, Gai-sensei!", replied Lee. "Neji needs to be out and ready! We have LOTS OF HARD WORK TO DO!"

"Alright, then, you can follow me up to his room. I think he's sleeping right now, but he should be able to leave as soon as he wakes", replied the receptionist.

The receptionist/nurse then came out from behind her desk and began to escort Gai and Lee upstairs to see the recovering Hyuuga. However, by the time they reached the foot of the stairs, they heard the sound of running footsteps, and a shout out from an almost-recognizable female voice. The voice that you don't hear that much, since the recipient doesn't get that much spotlight, and has almost no real development whatsoever. Care to take a guess?

Yep. You got it. Tenten.

"Hey, Lee! Gai-sensei! Wait up for me!", she shouted in and out of pants, catching up to them as the two Beatles look-alikes stopped and turned to face her. "Why'd you come without me? I thought we were going to see Neji off then continue our ninja missions! We can't do the missions without the entire team!"

Gai looked at Tenten with a look of confusement. "What?" Then, the look in those eyes changed to realisation, and then immediately to one of pity. "You didn't know?"

Lee's eyes, on the other hand, only have two modes: Really big with no real color, and Fiery Inspired DO IT OR KICK THE LOG! mode. Since he wasn't exactly inspired right now, his eyes were in the former, but that doesn't really matter. "Tenten, I thought you knew!"

"What are you talking about?" Tenten was confused. She was coming to see Neji off with Lee and Gai-sensei and continue to do missions, and they look as if they weren't expecting her to be there! "What is all this about?"

Gai gave a heavy sigh, and kneeled down to Tenten's level, placing an arm on her shoulder. "Tenten, remember that day off you had a while ago, while Sasuke was going all nutso, and Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Kiba, and Chouji went off to rescue him"?

"Yeah. It was a day off. What about it?"

Gai coughed, and tried to explain the situation to Tenten as good as possible. "Well, didn't you think it was a bit strange that you were allowed to take the day off when the village was in such a state of emergency that everyone was busy with missions, and even Shino, a Genin, had to go do missions with his father?"

By the look on her face, it was obvious that this thought had never crossed Tenten's mind. "No, I never thought of that..." She finally got the concept. "Do you mean...?"

"Yes. That wasn't just a day off. I didn't know of any better way to phrase it.. But, you didn't get it, so I'll have to more straightforward. Tenten, you're fired."

This hit hard on the poor weapons girl. The look of shock on her face easily showed that. "F-fired? But why?"

"Well, to put it honestly, Tenten, you're just not much of a ninja. I mean, you lost to Temari in that one fight, and all she did was swing a fan. You also have shown no real personality or meaningful development, so I'm afraid, we're going to have to let you go."

"What? But I tried my best in that fight, and you're always telling us to try our best! What about all that hard work stuff you always talk about? LIke with Lee! He used to be worse than Lee, and you didn't fire him!"

Gai gave another sigh. "Yes, he got better through hard work. You have not improved at all, and have obviously been slacking at times. I mean, all we ever see you do is throw stuff at Neji to help him train! And your training is just for aim! You already have perfect aim, you need to improve your physical strength! But you have failed in that, and your poor performance in the Chuunin Exam made me come to this very sad decision! PLEASE FORGIVE ME, TENTEN!"

Gai then burst into tears, as Lee did the same. "Yes, Tenten, we shall miss you! Farewell, and do well in your life as an ex-ninja!"

Tenten was getting quite angry now, and tried to stop the two sobbing wearers of the green. "Wait, you guys! I'm not accepting this! I didn't do that bad! Shikamaru couldn't beat Temari either!"

"Yes, but he did a really good fight, and was the only person who passed the exam", replied Gai (Who then was very glad that Asuma wasn't passing by at the time, because then He'd hear even more gloating than usual.)

"But what about Neji and Lee? They didn't pass the exam!"

"But Lee was up against an evil demon who could control sand, and who was practically invincible!"

"And what about Neji? He lost to Naruto!"

"Naruto put in lots of hard work to beat Neji, while Neji gloated in his genius! That is a valid loss!

At this point, Tenten gave up. "Fine. Your reasons suck, but I guess there's no point in arguing it. But how are you going to do missions without me? Don't you need a 3-Genin and one Jounin team?"

Apparantly, Lee had never thought of this. "That's right, Gai-sensei! Who will our new partner be?"

"Don't worry, Lee! I've already chosen a perfect partner, with all the right skill, strength, and personality to fit as a partner for you!" He then gave his super-sparkle Gai Smile and Nice-Guy Pose (TM). MEET YOUR NEW PARTNER! COME IN, NEW NINJA!"

The two ninjas and one ex-ninja stood there, as there was silence. A tumbleweed rolled. Tenten sweatdropped.

"Um, so where is this new partner?", she asked.

At that time, who would come in but THE SQUIRREL LEE SAVED WAY BACK IN THE 2ND TEST OF THE CHUUNIN EXAM! And it was wearing a tiny little Konoha headband too! It came up, and crawled up onto Lee's shoulder, then gave a bit of a squirrel salute.

Tenten sweatdropped again. "You replaced me with a SQUIRREL?!"

"Yes!", said Gai. "If it weren't for him, Lee wouldn't have partook in the fight between the Sound nins to save Sakura, and Sakura would have died! That Squirrel proved itself to be more important in that one scene than you ever have since you graduated!" (Keep in mind that he is not saying this in malice, but in his usual way. He's not making fun of Tenten, he's just telling the truth. Though technically that is the same thing)

Lee, however, was ecstatic with his new partner. "ALRIGHT! YOU'RE ALRIGHT! AND NOW YOU GET TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE GAI-SENSEI, NEJI, AND I! HOORAY! You need a name though! Ah! I SHALL CALL YOU NUTNUT!"

"....Nutnut?", sighed Tenten.

"Yes, Nutnut! That way he reminds us of you, our old partner! And he has nut in his name twice, since he's a squirrel! Nutnut is the perfect name for him!"

Gai seemed almost as ecstatic as Lee. "YES! GOOD NAME, LEE! BUT NOW, WE MUST GO SEE NEJI! WE'VE BEEN STANDING HERE TALKING HERE FOR TOO LONG! Goodbye Tenten, and good luck finding another job! Come, Lee, Nutnut!"

And so Gai, Lee, and Nutnut went up to Neji's room, leaving Tenten alone in the waiting room.. Well, not really alone, as there were patients and receptionists, but you know what I mean. She just stood there, shocked at this. She was fired? And replaced by a squirrel? She was unimportant? She couldn't handle this, oh no. She had dealt with being in the backstory for awhile, but this was the last straw.

Tenten wanted revenge.

"So, they think I'm unimportant, huh? Then I'll prove how important I can be! I'LL FIND OUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING, AND NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, I'LL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON ON THE SCENE! Then Gai will see how wrong he was, and Lee will realise that I'm better than a stupid squirrel and Neji will.uh.....have me help in his training more! I WILL BE THE HERO OF THIS STORY, IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

And so Tenten set her goal. But little did she know that all kinds of zany things would be happening later, and she's have a lot to deal with. Angry cousins, gymnastics events, lame mysteries, strange allies.. and that would only be the tip of the iceberg that the Tentenic was headed for. But would she succeed? Ah, that is another 20 or so stories.....

There's your teaser. Sorry this was short. If a lot of you like this, later chapters will be longer, I promise. this was just an introduction, and there will be many ongoing plots to deal with, each dealing with different characters..and Tenten. And that's where you come in! You get to choose which plots I introduce first! For one, one of the plots involves Neji and Lee. that will be touched on next chapter. however I will also cover at least one other plot, and maybe two. Here are the characters in each plot. Feel free to choose which one or two plots you want to see first! The one/ones with the most votes will appear next chapter!

Kiba/Shino

Hinata/Ino

Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura

Kakashi/Asuma/Gai/Kurenai

Shikamaru/Chouji

Kabuto/Orochimaru

Itachi/Kisame

Jiraiya/Tsunade

Iruka/Konohamaru/Udon/Mogei

Don't you worry about those more random ninjas though, like Genma, Morino, Kotetsu, etc. They will come into play, I promise. Keep in mind that I am not going for any romantic pairings in this fic. This is all comedy, not romance. However, there may be some unrequited comedic love (Think Ranma ).

The "day off" Gai was talking about refers to the cover of one of the chapters in the most recent storyline, during those fights with the Sound 5. It showed Tenten, having a day off, while all these other ninjas are fighting...

Lots of influence from linkandluigi in this, and of course from my own twisted mind. Please review, and I accept Constructive Criticism but no flames please! Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next chap will be up next week if enough people like it!


	2. To Be a Villain

Strange Ambitions

A Naruto Fanfiction by Otaking GTJ

Disclaimer by Neji: It is not Otaking GTJ's destiny to own Naruto. That is Masashi Kishimoto-san's. He gets all ownership and profit from the series, whille GTJ gets none, just like how the MAIN HOUSE gets all the prestige and cool techniques, while the Branch House gets the pain and Curse Seals. Which means that it's the Main House's fault that Otaking GTJ does not own Naruto.

A/N: Well, it appears some of you liked the first chapter. However, only 2 of you said what you wanted for the next chapter. Thanks to both of you, to Link and Luigi for both greatly inspiring this fic and encouraging me to go through with it, and thanks to Spectrum for your in-depth review and CC, I really appreciate it when I get longer reviews like that. Anyway, here is how the story is go: There will be multiple stories running at the same time. The first chapter introduced the main plot which all the storylines meld into, which is Tenten's quest to be the most important. These next few will introduce each storyline. Since we left off at the hospital with Lee and Gai, this chapter will introduce the Lee/Neji plot. Very quickly after that (as in within like 2 or 3 days), I will introduce the Kiba/Shino plot, which LinkandLuigi requested. Then I will introduce Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura. After that, well, we'll see. Once all of them are introduced, they will all be running simultaneously, with each chapter showing some of multiple plots (I doubt I'll be able to fit in something about every plot in each chapter though, at least for now). So, for example, say for one chapter, after all the plots have been introduced, I touch on the Neji/Lee plot, the Gaara/Temari/Kankuro plot, and the Shikamaru/Chouji plot. The next chapter may focus on the Orochimaru/Kabuto plot, the Itachi/Kisame, and so on. It really depends on both how I feel at the time and the reviews I get to when I focus on each plot, but I assure you each plot and each character will receive an equal amount of screentime. Oh, and sorry, but these chapters might be shorter than I originally intended, but hopefully will get longer. Please comment as to what you think of chapter length. Heck, this chapter is SHORTER than the first, probably because I need to think of more for this particular plot. The later one swill be better! Well, then, with that said, let's move on to our first sub-plot: Lee and Neji!

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Chapter 2: To Be a Villain

Last time we left Rock Lee and Gai-Sensei, they were going to check up on their partner and student respectively, Hyuuga Neji. Now, after the whole "Tenten" incident, Gai, Lee, and Nutnut finally ascended the steps and entered the room in which Neji slept. There was already a doctor in the room, who greeted the visitors when he noticed them.

"Ah, you must be Gai-Sensei and Rock Lee, correct? I'm Dr. Whiplash, and I'm the one who's been working with Neji for the past week."

"Ah, that is good!", replied Gai. "Thank you for your work! Now, when will Neji be ready to leave?"

"As soon as he wakes up. Right now he's resting. Anyway, since he's now fully healed, and you're here, I'll leave him back into your hands now, Gai-san. I need to check up on other patients. The Uchiha and the Uzumaki kid still have a lot of injuries on them... Once Neji awakes, you all can leave."

The doctor then left, leaving Gai and Lee just waiting in the room, and watching Neji sleep. Then suddenly, some random ninja appeared in the usual sneaky ninja-ish way, and looked towards Gai.

"Gai-sama! Orders from the Hokage! You are needed for a very important mission! Please report to the Hokage's tower as soon as possible!"

"An important mission for the Hokage? Very well, I understand." Gai then turned to his student." LEE! You are to stay here until Neji awakes, then go and train! And continue to train hard every day until I return from my super-important mission! Got that, Lee?"

"YES!", Lee exuberantly replied. "I WILL TRAIN MY HARDEST, AND WILL MAKE SURE NEJI DOES THE SAME! AND NUTNUT WILL TRAIN HARD TOO! Right, Nutnut?"

The squirrel chirped in agreement. Gai gave yet another Nice-Guy Pose and Gai Twinkle.

"Good! Very well then, I must be off!". And then he left, along with the random ninja.

And so Lee was left alone with Neji... He stood there....and stood there..then sat down..then stood again....read the latest issue of "Hard-Working Ninjas Monthly". He had just finished the last article ( "How to kick the Log with results 3 times as good as before!"), when he saw an ad for the Pokemon tv show..

Then he saw the permanent marker laying on the table next to the hospital, for who knows what reason.

Then he looked at Neji. And formatted an evil, evil, evil scheme. Ok, so it wasn't that evil. But it was rather mischievous. Seeing Neji sleeping, Lee remembered how Jigglypuff would always make people fall asleep with its singing, then draw on their faces with a permanent marker. Having Neji sleeping, a permanent marker sitting near him, and a picture of Jigglypuff looking at him COULDN'T have been a coincedence. Lee took the permanent marker, and walked up to Neji, who was just laying there and sleeping like he's been all fic. Then he took the cap off of the marker.

Nutnut began to chirp in disagreement, but was quickly silenced by one of Lee's fingers covering its mouth. "Sssh, Nutnut! Don't worry, this'll be fun! Don't you wanna see how Neji will look with stuff drawn all over his face?" Nutnut chirped some more. "Oh, yeah, I guess it would be more funny to have something specific, yet silly, drawn on his face. but what?"

That's when Lee looked up and saw the TV. It was showing one of those old black and white hero/villain shows where the villain always has a weird moustache, a pointy bear, and a black cloak, and the damsel always ends up being tied to railroad tracks. And then he looked at Neji again, and came to his logical (well, for him) conclusion.

He drew a moustache on Neji...just like the one those old villains wore.....

'Hehe, doesn't he look so weird, Nutnut?" Lee snuck the marker in his pocket, as he and the squirrel both had a good round of snickering at Neji with his Villain Moustache.. But then Neji woke up!

He slowly rose to an upright position, yawning, and looking ever so grumpy, even for him. He then noticed Lee and Nutnut..

"Lee...why is there a squirrel on your head?"

Lee looked confused that Neji didn't know about Nutnut, but then remembered that both Neji wasn't there when he saved the squirrel, or when Nutnut replaced Tenten, and that Neji probably didn't care too much about a squirrel before then anyway. "Ah! This is NutNut, our new partner! Y'know, to replace Tenten, since she got fired!"

Now, Neji knew about Tenten being fired. Tenten herself was the only one who DIDN'T know. But as he was still quite tired, he wasn't awake enough to be surprised by the squirrel partner, got up, and went to the bathroom. A few minutes later, Neji came out, and looked at Lee with his usual Stern Hyuuga Glare (TM, just like all the other looks those Naruto characters get).

"Lee, why do I have a moustache?"

Instead of telling the truth, Lee decided to lie, and see just how much fun he could have with this whole idea. "What, you mean that? You grew that while you were sleeping!"

"But it's not like real hair. It feels more like it's drawn on", Neji plainly replied.

"Well, maybe it's like a mark only Hyuuga Branch House members get? Like a mark that just looks like a moustache?"

"Lee, nobody else in the Branch House has ever had such a mark."

"Um, well, maybe it's only certain SPECIAL members of the Branch House? Like maybe it only goes to those who act kind of evil sometimes? It does look like one of those villains from those really old cartoons!"

"Lee...that has got to be the dumbest thing you have ever said."

"But maybe it's true! You have been acting kind of evil at times! Well, not counting that thing with Kidoumaru, but before that! When you tried to kill your cousin!"

"That's enough.. I'm going home, and getting this mark off. I'll see you later."

"But Neji, we have to train! Gai-sensei said so!"

"I don't care. I'm going home. Train by yourself."

And so Neji left, and Lee just stood there awhile with Nutnut. Then the wheels of the Big-Browed Wonder started turning again.

"Nutnut, we gotta move quick! I want to get as much out of this joke as possible! We'll set it as a new training exercise, one of the minds! I WILL FOOL NEJI INTO THINKING HIS MOUSTACHE IS REAL FOR AT LEAST A WEEK! AND IF I FAIL, I WILL SHAVE MY EYEBROWS AND USE THE PERMANENT MARKER TO DRAW LINES AROUND MY EYES SO I LOOK LIKE GAARA, AND KICK THE LOG 278,954 AND A HALF TIMES! YEAH!"

Nutnut agreed, and the two were off. Lee uses his super no-weights speed to get to the Hyuuga household before Neji, who was walking in a bit of a slow pace, as he wasn't in that much of a hurry. Luckily, all of the other Hyuugas were attenting their 27'th Annual Hyuuga Horseshoe-Throwing contest over at the park, so the coast was clear. Lee and Nutnut went in and searched the house supa-quick until they found the Hyuuga Family Album, which Lee did some drawing in, after which he placed it somewhere in Neji's room where he could easily see it. After this was done, He left.

Now, let us switch the focus for a bit onto the true star of our story, Tenten. Y'see, she was still angry about being fired, and thinking about how she could be the main character. Luckily, she was heard by Anko, Ibiki, and Genma, who talked to her about it at her house later that afternoon..

"So, you want to become the most important, huh?", Anko started.

"Yes, I'm tired of being treated like I don't count for anything!", replied Tenten."I want to find out what's going on, and get involved in everything somehow!"

"Hm, that's a good idea", stated Ibiki. "But first...you need to figure out how to be at many different places at once. Have you ever thought about that?"

Tenten then realised that she had overlooked this particular flaw.. "Uh..yeah.. forgot about that."

Genma then casually pulled out a scroll. "Well, no worries, you can just use this." He then tossed the really big scroll to Tenten.

"Um, what is this?", she asked

"Oh, it's the Scroll of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu that Naruto used a while ago.", Genma replied.

"Wait, how did you get this? I thought it was a Forbidden art"

"Well, that was when the 3rd was Hokage", replied Ibiki. "The 5th really doesn't care as much about people using Kage Bunshin. So it's not really THAT forbidden anymore."

"Oh.Ok then, thanks!", said Tenten. Now she could just use Kage Bunshin to spread her importance to everyone at once! "I really appreciate the help!"

"No problem!", said Anko. "After all, we're unimportant too, so it's our duty to help you! I bet we can find other underappreciated ninjas to help you too!"

"That would be great! But for now, I need to learn this technique! I'll call you if I need any more help!"

And so they all parted, and Tenten began to plan her schemes, but at the Hyuuga Household, Neji had just gotten home. And when he entered his room, he saw the Hyuuga family album, and opened it. And, to his great surprise, he saw that some of the Hyuugas had moustaches like his!

Now, normally Neji would be sane enough to realise that all of this was done in permanent marker, and that it was obviously Lee's doing. However, Neji was still a bit mentally unstable from recovering from all those injuries, and while he was physically fine, his mental health wasn't quite full yet. And, so, Neji actually began to wonder.

"What is this? Is this really some kind of bloodline thing inherent in some Branch House Hyuugas? Is it my destiny to be an old-style villain?"

These thoughts went through Neji's head constantly, and he just spent hours pondering it. Finally, he decided he was still tired, and decided to take a nap. When he did, Lee, who had been watching the whole time, snuck in and attached to Neji's chin a fake pointy beard, just like the ones on those villains. He then snickered to his squirrel as he snuck into the night.

Neji had many dreams that night, about Lee's saying being true, and of him being such a villain. With his mind at it's current state, it began to sink in, until when he woke up he found that he had also grown an old-villain beard! And so his mental state and path were set, as he went into his closet, and bypassing all his usual outifts, he went to the one black cloak deep in the back.

It was time to accept his Destiny. Well, what he thinks is his destiny. Silly Neji.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Alright, I'm really sorry about this being so short. This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment idea, and it wasn't until trying to write it until I realised how silly and difficult it is.. but don't worry, the other chapters will be better. This chapter I believe was nowhere near as good as the first, but I will try to improve, and I think that Chapter 3 will be a doozy, as it's storyline, the Kiba/Shino plot, is the most well-planned storyline and the first one I thought of. So look forward to that next week. Oh, and if you want to know why I waited until today to post instead of one week after chapter 1, it's because TODAY, SEPTEMBER 24, IS MY 18TH BIRTHDAY! WOO! So, I decided that I would like my 2nd chapter to debut on my b-day. Too bad it was this one... Anyway, please Review, CC, and get ready for next week's Shino/Kiba chapter!


	3. To Be Avenged

Strange Ambitions

A Naruto Fanfiction by Otaking GTJ

Disclaimer by Kiba: GTJ does not own Naruto. It is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

Akamaru: bark bark!

Kiba: What? No, Akamaru, you do not own Naruto! I just said, Kishimoto does!

Akamaru: woof!

Kiba: Don't give me that kind of crap! Masashi Kishimoto is not one of your pen names! You don't even have a pen name! Heck, you can't even use a pen!

Akamaru: woof bark ruff!

Kiba: Hmph, fine! Be that way! If you want to think you created Naruto, then so be it. I'm going to read this chapter!

AN: Sorry it took so long. I wrote this two weeks ago, but the computer just deleted it. Even though I saved. Then the next week, I rewrote it. And it was deleted AGAIN! But this time, I saved it on both a floppy disk and the comp, so here it is. It may be 2 weeks late, but it's still here! And expect the next chap a week from now! The Kiba/Shino Chap! And if it makes you feel any better, this chapter is a good amount longer than the first two...

Warning: This storyline contains an original character. She is not a Mary Sue, and has as many flaws and strengths as a regular char. Please do not bash this fic or this storyline just because it has an original char. After, the entire reason I started this fic was from a conversation with a friend in which I came up with the original character..

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Chapter 3: To be Avenged.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning in Konoha, particularly in one forested area. In this area, there were many insects buzzing around. They had not a care in the world, as they merely flew around, occasionally resting on a tree here and there. Only to wind up being ensnared in a large net, and being added to the arsenal of a powerful being.

Aburame Shino was out bug-catching.

He was enjoying this nice break, for he had just gotten back from an exhausting mission with his father in Spira. Of course, when his adventure would be retold in video game format, the people in charge of it would have to make changes in order to avoid copyright infringement (Because not even the Hokage can handle a well-placed Lawsuit no Jutsu). So, Shino's dad got new clothes and different techniques, Shino was digitally replaced by some blue beast-man, and the entire Aburame clan was replaced by a race of said beast-men. But that was behind him now. Right now he was focused on the hunt. He saw an interesting specimen resting on a nearby tree. He neared closer...closer...He readied his net...

And watched as a cat jumped in front of him and caught the insect.

Shino stood there and watched the cat continue to frolic around and hunt insects. For those who know their cat breeds, this was a Russian Blue. Shino, however, did not know his cat breeds, so he didn't know what the heck kind of cat it was nor did he care. All he cared was that it caught his prize. He calmly walked up to it, and picked it up by the scruff of its neck so it and Shino were face to face.

"Bad kitty".

He then set the cat down, and continued with his hunt. However, it wasn't long until he saw that the cat was still hunting those insects. He once again walked up to the feline, and picked it up.

"Bad kitty".

He then tried to focus on his hobby again, but what do you know? That darn cat still wouldn't stop! It was just frolicking about and catching bugs like Shino had never done anything! This was the last straw for Shino, so he walked over, and picked the cat up again....

"You're not going to listen to me, are you?"

The cat replied with a defiant meow, and Shino looked at it a bit puzzled. He was then about to let the cat down again, when his ninja senses detected someone trying to attack him. He casually stepped to the right, and a kunoichi tackled the air which moments ago contained the bug-boy. She then turned around and just about hissed at Shino. She looked about the same age as all the other Genin in the series, and was wearing a tank-top with slacks. She had short purple hair, and had blue markings on her cheeks in the shape of a claw nail. She looked angrily at Shino.

"What are you doing with Aoiruto?! Put her down!"

Shino looked curiously at her. "This is your cat? It's hunting and eating the insects I'm trying to catch.."

"Well, yeah! Cats naturally hunt out of instinct, and as a form of play! Plus, it's good for training to improve her skills when we're fighting!"

Shino raised an eyebrow. "You fight alongside your cat?"

The kunoichi rolled her eyes, and kind of got a bit of a stuck-up aloof pose. "Of course! I'm Tsume, the rising star of the cat-using Nekozuka Clan! Aoiruto and I are almost unstoppable when we're fighting together!"

Shino raised his other eyebrow. And since he hadn't lowered the first one yet, that means BOTH eyebrows were currently raised. "Nekozuka Clan? Cat-users?"

Tsume apparantly looked surprised that Shino had never heard of her clan. "Yeah, Nekozuka clan! Why, got something against it?"

"No. It's just that you remind me of an annoying team-mate of mine, whose a member of the dog-using Inuzuka Clan..".

Tsume's ears perked up at this, and she immediately seemed to get very excited and agitated. "Wait, you know an Inuzuka? You don't mean Inuzuka Kiba, do you? Do you know where he is? Aoiruto and I have a score to settle with him and his stupid puppy!"

Obviously Shino could not raise any more eyebrows, but somewhere, Lee subconsciously raised an eyebrow, and everyone knows one Lee eyebrow counts as TWO Shino eyebrows, so you can only imagine Shino's surprise. He then pointed towards Kiba's favorite spot to train with Akamaru. "That way."

"Thanks a lot! Come one Aoiruto, let's go and get our revenge!" And so, Tsume and Aoiruto went off in the direction Shino pointed to. Shino just stood there for a moment, then shrugged and continued with his bug-catching.

Meanwhile, at Tenten's house, our favorite weapons-using Kunoichi was conferencing with Ibiki, Anko, Genma, Izumo, Kotetsu, and Raidou about their plan.

"Alright, do we have everyone yet?", Tenten began.

"Almost everyone", said Genma. "Iwashi's on vacation, and we're still waiting on Aoba..."

Tenten froze a bit, then stared at Genma in shock. "Aoba? Who invited Aoba?"

"I did", said Raidou. He's underappreciated like us, and I figured he could help us -

"But wasn't he the one who said, right in front of Sasuke, that Itachi was there, in effect causing the whole mess that resulted in Sasuke leaving and Chouji, Neji, and Kiba almost being killed?"

"Well, yeah, but don't worry, we took precautions", said Izumo.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about him spoiling our plans to everyone!", agreed Kotetsu.

Anko, who was looking out the window, then shouted out. "Guys, he's here! Aoba is approaching the door at this very moment!"

"Commence pre-planned positions!", ordered Ibiki. Everyone then jumped and hid behind couches, taking Tenten with them, while Ibiki stayed right next to the doorway.. Soon, Aoba opened the door, and came in.

"TENTEN! IS IT TRUE THAT-

But his speech was cut short by Ibiki promptly smacking him right on the head, followed by all the other ninjas minus Tenten tackling him and causing a big cloud of arms, legs, and heads. When the cloud cleared, Aoba was on the ground with his mouth covered with duct tape. He struggled to remove it, but was stopped by Anko kneeling down, staring at him face to face. She then gave him one of those little markerboards that you can write on with markers. and... markers!

"Aoba, I wouldn't struggle if I were you, that duct tape is infused with all of our chakra..Sorry but we just can't trust you to keep your mouth shut after the recent events, so we had to shut it for you! Just a little precaution.. Anyway, you'll be communicating by writing on this board! And you will only show the board to us. Understand?" She gave a twisted smile. Aoba just gave a scared and nervous nod. "Good!"

Tenten coughed to gain everyone's attention. "Anyway, now that everyone is here, let's begin the meeting..You've all agreed to help me become more important by helping me get right in the middle of everything that transpires and becoming the driving force! Since our first meeting, I have successfully learned Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, so I can be everywhere at once. Now, since then, have any of you found out anything of use to me?"

Aoba wrote something on his board, and showed it to everyone. It said "Well, I overheard a girl from the Nekozuka clan talking about getting revenge on Inuzuka Kiba...."

Everyone looked at Aoba in shock, as if they weren't expecting him to come up with such a thing, until Genma patted Aoba on the back.

"Good job, Aoba. You actually did something USEFUL for the ninjas.. You should be proud." He then took out a gold star and pinned it on Aoba's shirt. Yay!

"Well, that is useful information!", continued Tenten. "Alright, then here's the plan. I'll send out a bunshin to go and see what Kiba and the girl are up to, accompanied with one of you..hmm.. how about.. Izumo!"

Izumo shook his head. "Sorry, I'm staying with Kotetsu. We just can't be seen apart." He then realised how this sounded, and immediately covered up with one of those embarrased laughs with one arm behind his head. "Not to say we're a couple or anything, just that we're like the good cop/bad cop team of Konoha.. kinda. and just having one of us alone would ruin the reputation."

Everyone looked at Izumo as if they were saying "...riiiight....", except for Kotetsu, who was apparrantly distracted by something on the far wall and was not paying attention. Finally, Tenten broke the silence.

"Alright then. Then I'll go with Anko." She then used Kage Bunshin, and created, y'know.. a shadow clone. The bunshin and Anko then left, while the real Tenten and the other ninjas just sat there bored, until they decided to play a board game or something..

Meanwhile, Kiba was having a joyous time playing with Akamaru! They were frolicking about as usual, jumping around, playing fetch, teaching Akamaru how to piss on stuff while in midair, y'know, the usual.

"Alright, Akamaru, FETCH!", as he threw a stick, which, in midair bunshined into 20 sticks. Akamaru responded by using his sense of smell to smell the REAL stick, and caught it! "Alright, good catch, Akamaru! Let's do it again!"

But, while they were playing suddenly they stopped, as Akamaru smelled something, and alerted Kiba to it.

"Yeah, I know, Akamaru. I smell her too. Her and her cat. Hey! Tsume! Where are you! We know you're here!

Tsume then jumped out of one of the nearby bushes, while behind another, Tenten and Anko were spying on the proceedings.

"I've never seen her before! Who is she, Anko?", asked Tenten.

"Her name is Nekozuka Tsume, a member of the cat-using Nekozuka Clan", replied Anko. "Her clan used to always be at war with the Inuzuka clan, but that stopped years ago when members from each clan fell in love and a whole Romeo-Juliet-ish thing unfolded, and the two clans decided to intermarry to settle the peace. But I don't understand why Tsume would have something against the Inuzuka Clan now.."

"Wait", said Tenten. "Didn't you just say the two clans joined together through marriage?"

"Yes. why?", asked Anko.

"Then wouldn't that mean that Kiba and Tsume are like cousins or something?"

"Well, yeah, now that I think about it, Kiba and Tsume are cousins!"

"Then that explains it", Tenten said matter-of-factly. "If there's anything that I've learned from Neji, it's that cousins are born enemies.."

Anko sweatdropped. "I don't think that's quite it..."

Meanwhile, with our animal losers, Kiba and Akamaru couldn't hear what Anko and Tenten were saying because they were too consumed with anger at Tsume and Aoiruto.

"Why are you always trying to attack us, Tsume?!", shouted Kiba. "We didn't do anything to you, so why do you have this grudge against us! I'm tired of you always trying to kill me while I'm training with Akamaru!"

"Don't play stupid with me!", accused Tsume. You know very well what you did! Right Aoiruto?" Aoirtuo mewed in response, then hissed at Akamaru, its fur stood up. "I remember it like it was yesterday. Because of you, Aoiruto and I missed the Chuunin Exam!"

"What are you talking about?", said Kiba. "I know you didn't show up for some reason, but we had no part in it!"

"Yeah right!", said Tsume. "I'll prove it to you! It's flashback time!"

And so we go into a flashback of a few months earlier, right before the Chuunin Exam. We see Aoiruto tied up in rope, and hanging over a pool, meowing frantically. Tsume is likewise tied up and over the same pool, her hair is sticking straight up, and has tears in her eyes. She looks with hatred at a small figure in the corner.

"Let us go! You damn coward, You're just afraid to fight us in the Chuunin Exam!"

We then see the figure come into the light, only to see that it's Akamaru, grouped with the other Inuzuka dogs and Kakashi's nin-dogs, all grinning quite evilly, except for Pakkun who had his usual tired look. Akamaru did some barking.

Pakkun was the translator for Akamaru. "He says you're going to stay here until the Chuunin Exam starts, then you'll be let go when we're sure you can't enter. Sorry, but Mister Akamaru doesn't quite feel like putting up with cats in his first Exam."

"That's playing dirty!", shouted Tsume. "Kiba put you up to this, didn't he! You tell him, that I'll get revenge! He'll regret making us miss this Exam!"

But her shouts amounted to none, as the dogs left, laughing... End Flashback, to show Tsume and Aoiruto still looking very pissed at Kiba and Akamaru.

"So you see, that's why I couldn't go to the Chuunin Exam, and why I'm going to get revenge on you! Now stop being a coward, Kiba, and FIGHT ME!"

"Woah, Tsume, I had nothing to do with that! I had no idea Akamaru did that!", replied Kiba. He then looked at Akamaru. "Akamaru, did you really tie Tsume and her cat up so they couldn't compete in the Chuunin Exam?"

Akamaru whistled innocently. Yep, even dogs can whistle when they're trying to hide a horrible wrongdoing.

"Enough talk!", yelled Tsume. "It's time for Aoiruto and I to finally get our revenge! QUADRUPED NO JUTSU!"

She then got all cat-like, and got on all fours, similar to when Kiba uses the technique, then Aoiruto jumped on her back, and they used the Beast-Human Kage Bunshin. Kiba and Akamaru then did the same, and the 4 charged at each other, Kiba and Akamaru using their Gatsuuga, and Tsume and Aoiruto doing a similar move, only they were flipping over in midair instead of spinning, when they were stopped by clouds of many, many bugs, which separated them all. Shino then jumped down in the center of the area, and called the bugs back into his body. He then looked at all four of them.

"Stop it. Your fighting is pointless, and it's disrupting the business of all the insects in the forest."

Kiba and Akamaru kind of looked angry that they were interrupted, while Aoiruto just hissed at the two and Tsume looked up at Shino in surprise.

"Oh, it's you! The cute bug-catcher from before! You saved me from my nasty cousin, didn't you?"

Shino raised an eyebrow. Yes, this time it was his own, as he has lowered his eyebrows since he first met Tsume. He doesn't just keep his eyebrows raised for hours at a time, after all. That would be silly. "Cute? Saved?" He then looked at Kiba. "Cousin?"

"Yeah!", replied Tsume. "He and his stupid dog prevented Aoiruto and I from competing in the Chuunin Exam, and did you just see how he vicously attacked us when we expressed our emotions?" She then put on a fake face of victimization. "If you hadn't come in and saved us, who knows what would have happened!"

Shino shrugged. "Actually, I was just concerned about the insects, and it looked like you were both attacking each other."

Tsume giggled. "Oh, don't be so modest!"

Behind the bushes, Anko and Tenten were still watching, and were getting really into this..

"That girl so has a crush on Shino", said Anko.

"Yeah", replied Tenten. "And she's starting to steal the spotlight too! I can't let that happen! I need to go in there!" She started to come out of the bushes, but was grabbed back by Anko.

"Woah, not yet, Tenten! If you went in now, it would be out of place and just weird, not to mention they would all realise you've been spying on them the entire time!"

"Oh, fine", Tenten grumbled. She stayed behind the bushes and continue to watch the 3 ninjas.

"Listen, it's obvious you're not going to stop fighting even If I tell you not to, so just do whatever", said Shino. "Just try not to hurt any insects. I'll know." And with that he left.

"No, wait!", said Tsume. "You haven't even told me your name!"

By this time, Kiba had finally put two and two together.. "Wait, you have a crush on Shino? What the heck do you see in him! You realise he has bugs throughout his body, right?"

"So?", Tsume replied. "I like his personality!"

"What personality? I don't recall Shino having a personality", said Kiba.

This got Tsume riled up again. "First you prevent me from going to the Chuunin Exam, then you deny even knowing of it, then you attack me, and now you insult the boy I like! That's it!" She then got ready to attack, until a bunch of dogs and cats came in between her and Kiba, followed by Kiba's mother and a man who, with his markings and such, was obviously a Nekozuka.

Tsume and Kiba spoke at the same time. "Mom/Dad, what are you doing here?!" (Obviously, Kiba said Mom, while Tsume said Dad.)

"We've been looking all over for you, and just now heard that you were trying to start another quarrel between the Nekozukas and Inuzukas!", said Tsume's dad.

"We don't want to go back to the dog-cat wars of yesteryear!", said Kiba's mom.

"But you don't know what Kiba and Akamaru did to us, Dad!", said Tsume.

"I didn't do anything! That was just Akamaru! She's the one constantly attacking us!", said Kiba.

"It doesn't matter", said Tsume's dad. "Our clans are joined together, and are at peace! And it is because of this that the two clans have come to a decision!"

"That's right!", said Kiba's mom, as she pulled out a big scroll and read from it. "In order to continue the prosperity between cats and dogs, and to have both of our clans joined together, by clan law Inuzuka Kiba and Nekozuka Tsume are to be engaged!"

"WHAT?!", replied both Kiba and Tsume. They couldn't handle this. After all, Kiba knew he wanted Hinata, and he didn't want to be with his cousin who has been attacking him the whole time! and Tsume liked Shino, and didn't want to be married to the person who prevented her from taking her Chuunin Exam!

"Mom! You can't do that! She's my cousin! It's just wrong!", said Kiba.

"You know as well as I that cousins marrying is an important part of spreading the power of a clan, Kiba", said Kiba's Mom. "Besides, you aren't engaged or interested to anyone else, it seems!"

Kiba and Tsume both would have answered, but Kiba was just too embarrassed to say out loud that he had a crush on Hinata in front of his cousin, no less, and Tsume didn't know enough about Shino to prove they had anything going on. After all, they just met!

"Well?", said Tsume's Dad. "Do you have anyone else? If not, then the engagement stays!"

Behind the bushes, Tenten and Anko were focused on the conversation.

"Tenten, did you hear that?", said Anko. "Tsume and Kiba are in the spotlight of a confrontation right now! You have to take it! It's a perfect chance!"

Tenten knew this all too well. "I know. And I know just what I have to do.. I just hope Kiba forgives me when this is all over.. but anything for me to be important!"

And so, Tenten jumped out of the bushes, and glomped Kiba in a tight embrace, and shouted to the world (well, ok, not the world, just Kiba and Tsume's parents).

"HE CAN'T MARRY HER! I'M ENGAGED TO KIBA!"

Kiba could only stand there in a big mix of both embarrassment and confusement.

".....WHAT?!"

TO BE CONTINUED....

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Quite a cliffhanger, isn't it? Anyway, I hope that was good enough, after you having to wait 3 weeks for it... I personally liked writing this chapter, and some parts of this I absolutely love. Oh, and as for Tsume, she was created when I discussed with a friend about what Kiba would be like if he was a cat person instead of a dog person, and we ended up with Tsume. Oh, and in case you were wondering, since Kiba means Fang, which is what dogs tend to use when fighting, it was only suitable I named the Nekozuka Tsume, or Claw. Anyway, please review! Next week is the Naruto Sasuke Sakura chap, followed by the Gaara/Kankuro/Temari chap, then the Chouji/Shikamaru chap! After that, I don't know what I'll do, but we'll see! Goodbye, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


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